Newark pastor: Why we should decriminalize marijuana: Opinion

New Jerseyâs war on marijuana is waged against people of color at the taxpayersâ expense.

A Newark pastor says the war on drugs like marijuana has made victims of low-level users and sellers, and that authorities unfairly target people of color. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

By M. William Howard Jr.

The overwhelming and unacceptable failures of marijuana prohibition have become increasingly clear in recent years, thanks in part to mounting and incontrovertible empirical evidence.

While any public policy has the potential to bring about counterproductive and unwanted side effects, the war on drugs expends billions of federal and state dollars per year and, despite such enormous economic costs, completely fails to fulfill any of its major objectives. Illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and more readily available than ever before.

Nowhere are these policy failures more evident than in our existing marijuana laws. More than 22,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in New Jersey in 2010, and in shockingly racially disproportionate numbers. Despite the fact that people of all races use marijuana at roughly equal rates, blacks are nearly three times more likely to be arrested for doing so in our state.

Furthermore, our state’s war on marijuana is waged against people of color at the taxpayers’ expense. In 2010, New Jersey wasted more than $125 million enforcing these unfair, apparently racially biased and ineffective marijuana laws. Considering that nearly half the arrests made were for simple possession as opposed to large-scale trafficking or distribution, this is hardly the most effective use of our limited fiscal and law enforcement resources.

The effects of these arrests are devastating in both human and economic terms. A minor marijuana possession conviction results in a stigmatizing criminal record that cannot be expunged for at least five years, and subjects an individual to a system of legal discrimination that makes it difficult or impossible to secure employment, housing, student loans or even a driver’s license.

Even absent a conviction, the consequences of a mere arrest include humiliation, the sometimes unmanageable financial burden of posting bail and hiring a lawyer, and lost hours at work or school.

On top of all this, public support for marijuana decriminalization is growing dramatically. A 2011 Rutgers-Eagleton poll found that 58 percent of state residents believe the penalties for marijuana use should be reduced and 55 percent say they should be eliminated entirely.

Echoing and confirming these findings, a poll from Lake Research this year found more than 60 percent of likely voters in New Jersey support reducing the penalty for simple possession from a criminal offense to a civil violation, punishable by only a small fine.

As a pastor in Newark, I work to foster community cohesiveness, expand individual and collective opportunities, and nurture the security and welfare of all the people who come to the church seeking guidance.

Current marijuana penalties actively frustrate all of these missions and instead effectuate injustice, distract from matters of serious public safety and devastate already vulnerable communities.

At the moment, the state Senate is considering a bill that would decriminalize 2 ounces or less of marijuana for personal use. I urge all New Jerseyans to embrace the wisdom of this legislative proposal. Such a policy change will promote justice and mitigate the devastating direct and collateral consequences of our existing marijuana laws.

I support decriminalization because New Jersey can no longer afford such a waste of lives and money, and because I cannot defend a prohibitionist policy that is primarily enforced against poor communities of color.

The Rev. M. William Howard Jr. is pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark and a former chairman of the Rutgers board of governors.